Since Sherrie was on an adventure, Janie Tisdale is this
month’s guest blogger for the first time.
July is typically a tricky month for getting our large
diverse group of women all together at the same time. July 2014 proved no
different. I had to miss the last few meetings. I really needed a Book Club
fix. I was determined to make it to Barb’s recently remodeled home, even if I
had to be late. For me, Book Club is like that old friend you don’t see for a
while but, when you do, after two minutes and a round of hugs, it’s as if you
never missed a thing. Though small in number this month; the conversation,
food, beverages, and companionship was just what I needed. Ah…home…at last.
The menu consisted of a delicious salad supper. The food
was superb, from the appetizers to the Godiva chocolates for dessert! We got so wrapped up in eating the meal and
talking that we forgot to take a picture of the feast before we devoured it. So
a group picture of those who came is the substituted picture and you will have
to use your imagination to savor what the food looked like.
Central Oklahoma was hot and extremely humid, due to the
abundance and frequency of rain for the month of June. Between the unhurried
meal, soothing conversation, hot humid weather, and a perfect full moonlit
night, I wasn’t sure if I was in Norman, OK or the middle of Mississippi. It turned
out to be a perfect lead-in for the book selection, Crooked Letter, Crooked
Letter by Tom Franklin.
This spellbinding novel opens like many of the stories of
the Deep South. It is a story of contrasts but this book is not what it seems
on the surface. Mr. Franklin very carefully weaves a story of two protagonists
with the chapters of the book often alternating in time. It opens with Silas
“32” Jones as an adult. He is now the town constable dealing with everything
from rattlesnakes in mailboxes to a murder of a local small-time drug dealer.
This isn’t an usual workday for the poorly paid police officer whose main job is
to direct traffic twice a day as the workers arrive and leave the mill. There
are murders in the book, but pay them no mind; its core is the early brief
friendship of Larry & Silas.
In the late 1970’s, they formed a friendship for a short
but very pivotal time one summer. This happened at a time when racial tensions
were still strong but they were in a bubble of sorts out in the rough timber of
the large acreage that belonged to Larry’s father. Larry Ott was white, and the
only child of working-class parents while Silas “32” Jones was raised as an
only child in a black, single-parent household, transplanted from urban Chicago
to the backwoods of Chabot, Mississippi. Their worlds were as different as
night and day, yet for a few months, the boys were about to step outside of
their circumstances and share a special bond. Unfortunately, this fragile bond
is fractured once outsiders become involved.
Larry had always been the “different” kid in the class.
Outnumbered by race, he suffered from an early bout of stuttering, battled
several childhood illnesses, and was asthmatic. Add to the mix his love of
reading Stephen King novels and you have a perfect outcast. He became known as
“Scary Larry.” Silas, on the other hand, made his way through those
awkward years taking a different path. He handled his situation as many young
people moved from a large city to a small town. He wanted a ticket out and
relied on his athletic ability to get away but not before tragedy strikes the
town.
When they both were still in high school, something
terrible happened one hot summer night that had the town still talking about it
years later. Larry took a girl named Cindy to a drive-in movie, and she was
never heard from again. She was never found and there was no confession, but
all eyes rested on Larry. Everyone knew Larry was weird to begin with, now the
town decided he had a dark side too. This broke the friendship apart and Silas
left town to stake his claim to fame in baseball at Old Miss.
Over twenty years have passed. Larry lives a solitary existence,
never able to rise above the whispers and conjecture. Silas has returned to
Chabot as a constable with all traces of his “northern” mannerisms gone. He
& Larry have no reason to cross paths until another young girl disappears.
Once again, the town blames Larry. Who else could it be? Then there’s an
attempt on Larry’s life. Now these two men are forced to confront the past
they’ve ignored or buried for years.
Part of our discussion dealt with the strong racial
overtones throughout the book that made some of the readers uncomfortable. For
some, it bordered on stereotyping and others found it hard to believe it exists
as Mr. Franklin portrays it. However, those of us who have strong ties to the
South, affirmed this is quite typical even today. It’s just not on the surface as
it was in the 60’s, especially when inter-racial dating and the glass ceiling
of class status is involved.
Throughout the book, there seemed to be this foreboding
that things are not going to end well. With each chapter, one got the feeling
that things were slipping and only getting worse. You hope against hope that it
will brighten for Larry but the deck is stacked against him with years of
isolation and general hatred of his very existence. Silas knows things but he’s
not talking. Why? There are reasons, but not what you suspect.
Overall the book rated 4.45, receiving a wide spread on
the scores. Those who finished the book expressed happiness with the ending.
That may have had something to do with some of the higher ratings. Those who
rated it lower seemed to struggle with the author’s portrayal of the bigotry
and why Larry stayed and why Silas came back. Regardless, it was a book that
brought a great deal of discussion about how much times have progressed but
have they really changed that much after all? Change comes slowly and even
slower, when situations seem to hold it back. This book has many twists and
turns that keeps the reader engaged.
While I was listening to this on CD and all during the
discussion, I kept thinking about a magnet I bought that reminded me of living
in a small rural community in my late teens. It says “There’s not much to see or
do in a small town, but the talk sure makes up for it.” That pretty well sums
it up for Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter for me. It doesn’t matter about the
time or place; it’s all about the talk of the town.
